It doesn’t seem that long ago when beat writers and reporters were using words like ‘must-win’ and ‘crucial’ when describing upcoming Phillies games. Now while the crown is still up for grabs, the Phillies are on fire. Their magic number to clinch the NL East is two and they are showing no signs of slowing down.

It was hard to even think the Phillies would have a magic number back in July when they were seven games back behind the Atlanta Braves in the division. However, the Phillies have completed flipped those numbers going 45-15 since July 22 and have built a 6.5 game lead heading into the last week of the season.

The Phillies can come one game closer to clinching by knocking off the Mets in the second game of this three game series tonight. They will be looking to Kyle Kendrick (10-9, 4.78) to get the job done. Kendrick could be making his last start of the season, depending how Charlie Manuel sets up his rotation for a likely playoff berth.

Kendrick has been your typical 5th starter all year long. Inconsistency has troubled the young right hander in his last couple of outings. He only has three wins in his last seven starts going an average of 5+ innings and giving up a little over three runs a game. The offense will once again be asked to pick up the slack. Something they have had no problem doing over this current 11 game winning streak.

Shane Victorino is hitting .385 against the Mets in 13 games collecting 12 hits and three homeruns. However, those stats won’t mean anything going into tonight. The Phillies will be facing Mets’ rookie pitcher Dillon Gee (1-1. 1.80). Gee is making just his fourth start of his career and faces probably his toughest opponent yet.

The Phillies have the best record in all of baseball and have won 20 of their last 23 games. They are streaking to a fourth consecutive NL East title and looking to represent the National League in the World Series for a third straight year.

Your gameday beer: Yards Love StoutAnything from Yards is a friend of mine. They just make damn good beers. My favorite is Yards ESA, but this Love Stout is intriguing. Right now, it’s cask conditioned at Grey Lodge Pub in Northeast Philadelphia, another enticing factor. Since I’v never tried the Love Stout, I can’t say first hand how it looks or tastes. But by all accounts, it’s a very dark beer with a dark head that has a chocolate and coffee aroma. For you java lovers, this could be gold. If your in Philly, get down to the Grey Lodge and order a burger med-well with one of these and enjoy the game. -Pat Gallen

Rooting for my man Kyle i believe he can do it. Im also liking Worley them two will compete for the fifth starter next year i believe. This off season the Phils will need to bring in a few relievers and maybe another potential starter.

That was a moonshot by Ryno. But ya know what? He might strike out at some point. We can’t have that. I’d rather have Casey Kotchman. Yeah, he only hits 8 HR a year, but he only K’s 75 times. It’s not how many runs you knock in, it’s all about hitting pop flies and ground outs.

Of course he is.
The level that he is under rated is pretty high.
I got behind Ruiz this year and it seems to have rubbed off. Maybe next year we go with the shane bandwagon.
Especially if he hit 1 all year which I thnk he could pull off.

If I couldn’t see the stats and just watched the games, I would guess that Ruiz has 50 more RBI than he does. That’s how clutch he’s been.
But more importantly, his defense, cunning, and the respect he gets from three superior pitchers makes him team MVP.

hope·less
1.
a : having no expectation of good or success : despairing b : not susceptible to remedy or cure c : incapable of redemption or improvement
2.
a : giving no ground for hope : desperate b : incapable of solution, management, or accomplishment

Valdez would be my best newcomer/ replacement player- Great athlete with a cannon. A year or two under the tutelage of the old man, he’ll learn to hit too.

I have only two MVP candidates, I just think their body of work for the entire season is far ahead of the others. Great contributions by just about everyone else this year, that’s how we survived the injuries.
Chooch
Doc

SUP NATION ! ——Just got home , Ryan put one in the CF ivy huh ?
Heard it was a shot , did see Reyes get picked off , thats 2 in 2 games nice.
Mets just scored here comes Charlie to get Kendrick. Since I missed most of the game I have a question , is this Dillon Gee kid good ? Looks like nothing since 1st inning.
Durbin just gave up a bases clearing double as I type all charged to Kendrick , guess he pitched good before this inning.

I do not like overpaid howie. never have never will. he is a average fielder. yes he can hit bombs but he strikes out way way to much. give me votto. see watch us get cold. we lose tomorrow. then win one against the nats. needing one more in atlanta and we get swept in atlanta. that would be funny. thanks howie you big punk

I do not like overpaid howie. never have never will. he is a average fielder. yes he can hit bombs but he strikes out way way to much. give me votto. see watch us get cold. we lose tomorrow. then win one against the nats. needing one more in atlanta and we get swept in atlanta. that would be funny. thanks howie you big punk

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You are the type of person who could ruin this blog all by yourself. We’ve won 11 straight, and here you are, crying like a Met. You give us all a bad name. You’re not a fan. You’re a miserable prig. Is there nowhere else you can go to spread your miserableness and negativity? We may lose a game and you now have us not making the postseason while we are 6 up on the league with 7 left? GTFOH. Kill yourself.

“ryan howard is a overrated piece of trash ” —— jeff are you for real ?
sometimes I find you mildly amusing but you take things too far.
You just sound like an idiot with that statement , You need to learn a little baseball history cause by your standards half the hall of fame is overrated pieces of trash , get a grip dude cause your losing it.
I wont bother to list Howards accomplishments I’ll let everyone else you annoyed with that statement try to educate you a little.

To be honest I dont want a 1b who is all about the glove. Like I dont want a C who hits 50 homers.
Ill never forget someone asked Boog Powell how do you play a good defensive first base and he said swing the bat.

Jeff makes me laugh. Like Archie Bunker on steroids.
I dont think I could ever get mad about what people post on the net though. Thats just how I am people have opinions. I try to have fun with everyone.

A ROOKIE OF THE YEAR TROPHY
AN MVP TROPHY
A WORLD SERIES RING—-more to come this year
TWO PENNANTS——-3rd coming this year
3 DIVISION TITLES—-4th in a row coming this year
Power numbers in the 1st 5 years of a career that puts him on a list with guys like BABE RUTH , WILLIE MAYS , GEHRIG
Its a team effort but he has been the BIG COG in the middle of this machine and has carried this team at times.
Man I wish I was such a piece of shit with all that hardware and accomplishmnts

How can the guy who has the record for consecutive post season games with an RBI be overrated? How can the quickest man to 100/150/200/250 HR be overrated? If anything, Howard is underrated. There are people out there who still think that Prince Fielder is a better 1B.

Some people think a team can peak too early before the playoffs and its true cause i’ve seen it happen in all sports. The clinch will happen with plenty of time to rest a little.It may be good to end the win streak so we can refocus and reload for the playoffs. How can anyone complain about the last month ?

I’ve been saying they’re not going to win out the rest of the year. Cole will shut them out tomorrow and the Mets are an irrelevant team. They don’t even matter. Better to drop a game to them than to the Braves.

biz , on a mission —– we all got ryno’s back tonite bro dont let it bother you. Lotta good points made , my 9:16 post says it all.
Knowone thought we would win out did they ?
I really didn’t want to win out cause of the whole peaking thing and it was very unlikely anyway

miked, Im so sick of the Negadelphians who insist on trotting out the hyperbole about Howard. Jeff should kill himself. I’ll donate the firearm and the bullet. Hell, I’ll make a donation to help his family. He just needs to remove himself from the realm of the living.

Charlie Man-u-smell will probably throw at least one of his top guns at us in that final series even though his team will likely have clinched by then. He’s probably still bitter about having to walk off the field in ’95 after the Braves beat out his power house lineup in Cleveland. I’ll never forget that image of him mopping down the tunnel of Fulton County Stadium. Man he looked ill.

BravoMan. I love it! The Braves sure made Charlie in the Indians look stupid in 95. If it wasn’t for 95, your impotent manager and that squad would have made the post season 14 times without a single WS pennant. LOL. How pitiful would that be?

Diaz looked great in that last series. He made one play and that was on a streaker. That might have been the highlight of Atl’s whole series. And then your squad of merry idiots made J-Hey dress up like the Easter Bunny for the trip to the airport. You should be thrilled that your team has it’s priorities straight. Playing practical jokes right after getting swept out of the pennant race. You guys are just as pathetic as the NY Mess.

guess everyone is in bed, just got home from the game, one bad inning, oh well you can not win them all. Maybe you pitch Cole on regular rest and win the game, but I think in the situation they are in it makes sense to give the top three an extra day off between starts. Maybe the Nats can come throuth tomorrow and the phils can wrap it up at home, on fan appreciation day. If the braves find a way to win the only bad thing is that they will have to wrap it up on Monday with Doc, would be kind of poetic, figure DC is kind of home games for the Phillies they just bat first. Will be back down tomorrow to hopefully see Cole pitch another gem and Phillies win.
And by the way, the Jeff’s comments are rather funny. But there is a reason that Philly fans get the wrap they do because Jeff is the loudest ignorant fan on this site calling the Big Guy is over rated and over paid, he is the bandwagon type fan that gives us real fans a bad wrap, but you have to admit it can be rather humerous